Rams have little time to prepare/PD

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Rams have little time to prepare
• By Jim Thomas

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_ea607d12-b340-556a-87e5-1bdac39b901c.html

Win, lose, or draw, the time-honored custom in the NFL is that players, and coaches for that matter, get 24 hours to celebrate or stew over that week’s result before moving on to the next challenge.

But the “24-hour rule” has been scrapped this week at Rams Park. With the Arizona Cardinals coming to town for a Thursday night game at the Edward Jones Dome, there’s not even a “24-minute rule” this week.

“There’s no minutes,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said Sunday about 20 minutes after the Rams’ 24-0 victory at Washington. “It’s already Wednesday of game week — you’re already preparing for first- and second-down run and play-action and all that stuff. So hop on this plane here and start rolling the tape.”

Normally tape review comes Monday, and the players don’t get any semblance of the game plan until Wednesday, which under a normal schedule is the first day of the practice week.

But with only three days to get ready, that schedule gets condensed this week. Through the wonders of the iPad, players and coaches watched game film of the Washington contest, plus got a head start on Arizona on the flight home Sunday night.

“We watched the (Washington) game on the airplane last night,” coach Jeff Fisher said. “The coaches got together and got as much done as they possibly could.”

Before the flight back to St. Louis, quarterback Shaun Hill said he planned to watch the Washington tape, plus at least one or two Arizona games before calling it a night.

“You know, that’s kind of the way these Thursday night games work,” Hill said. “I mean, it’s long hours up until game time. You’ve got to get everything in in a shorter period of time. But we’ll do that, and we’ll handle it well.”

After playing four consecutive games outside the division, at least the Rams have the benefit of playing an NFC West opponent, Arizona, who they faced just 30 days ago in Glendale, Ariz., in a 31-14 loss.

“Luckily it’s a familiar opponent,” Laurinaitis said. “So we’ve got to hunker down and really focus on getting the body right. It’s hard because it’s a short week and you just want to kind of turn your mind off a little bit. But let’s go get this. Let’s get in the cold tub. Let’s get the body right.”

At a team meeting Monday, Fisher told the players that the keys to success during a short work week are recovery and preparation. Recovery meaning the process of getting the body right through treatment, including, as Laurinaitis said, hopping into the cold tub. Preparation means making the most out of somewhat limited time for film study, time in the meeting room and time on the practice field.

Because of the 7:25 p.m. kickoff, Fisher has adjusted the daily schedule to get the players’ body clocks acclimated to a night schedule. For example, the team held a walk-through Monday at 5 p.m., to go over the first- and second-down portion of the game plan for the Cardinals.

Today, the Rams will work from 4:30-6 p.m., with a combination walk-through and practice.

On Wednesday, the on-field work will be a combination of what the team does on a normal Friday and Saturday. “We’ll do a little bit more than we would ordinarily do on the day before,” Fisher said.

And then that’s it — time to play a Big Red squad that at 10-3 shares the best record in the NFL despite losing two of its last three contests.

“Familiar opponent that’s playing well,” Fisher said. “They’re a good football team. Drew (Stanton)’s playing well. They went down and had a rough day in Atlanta and rough one at Seattle, which everybody does.”

Those were road losses on the last two Sundays of November. But the Cardinals rebounded Sunday at home, squeaking past Kansas City 17-14 to give them 10 victories for the second consecutive season.

“They’re playing well at home,” Fisher said. “That was a big win for them (Sunday).”

The Cardinals are 7-0 at home this season but only 3-3 on the road. So the short week is even tougher for them, because they’ve got to prepare quickly and then travel.

Fisher is 1-1 in Thursday night games since being hired as Rams coach in 2012, with both previous Thursday nighters played in St. Louis. The Rams defeated Arizona 17-3 on Oct. 4, 2012 following a home game the previous Sunday against Seattle.

Last season, the Rams were embarrassed 35-11 by San Francisco in another early-season Thursday night contest played Sept. 26. The Rams were coming off a road loss to Dallas before that one.

Fisher said he’s never played a Thursday night game so late in a season, even dating back to his days with Tennessee. “You know, almost mid-December,” he said.

The 6-7 Rams are hoping to post their fourth consecutive victory at the Dome, and their third victory in a row overall after posting back-to-back shutout wins against Washington and Oakland.

“We can’t get complacent because this offense we’re going against is powerful,” Laurinaitis said. “Coach (Bruce) Arians is a good football coach, so we’ve gotta be ready.”

And get ready fast.